Chapter 487

Chapter 487: The Great Power Reborn as a Demon

With a loud crash, the dark green jade token slammed into the Fire Demon’s chest, pulling him away from the spot. His towering flame form suddenly lost the binding of the time force and gained freedom.

"Great Calamity Split Flame Explosion, be extinguished!" While still in the air, the Fire Demon launched his attack, certain that his formidable talent could not be countered by his hidden enemy.

Flames surged, ready to form a devastating strike of "Swallow the heavens and Devour the earth," but unexpectedly, the thunder roared and the rain was scarce; in the next moment, all the flames shrank back.

"What’s happening?" The Fire Demon landed and looked at his chest, only to see numerous dark green symbols emerging. He unleashed his fiery power to burn away these ghostly things, but the more intense the flames, the deeper those symbols burned into his chest.

Li Hui gathered the clouds around him and calmly remarked, "Your temper is too fiery; I thought I’d help you cool down."

“Roar… audacious!” The Fire Demon stepped forward, turning the ground into magma, but to his shock found the power of his flames swiftly retreating into his body.

"I do not take it upon myself to subdue demons but see it as a shortcut to wealth. Do you understand my meaning?" Li Hui explained, "The stronger your flames, the more powerful the spirit fire you nurture. Right now, the jade token holds a hundred thousand spirit fires, more than half of which have already reached the level of Demonized Treasure Talismans. In two days, when they absorb enough demonic energy and divine fire, they will reach the depth of demon talismans. After that, it will depend on fortune; the stacking and support will help the spirit fires evolve into Jade Symbols, ultimately requiring immense talisman power to create this artifact."

"Daydreaming!" The Fire Demon pressed his hand against his chest, exploding his palm and arm in a bid to eradicate the threat. But to his surprise, his flames quickly dissipated, while the cursed symbols remained, actually devouring his hand and arm, causing them to glow with intense light, infuriating him.

Li Hui shook his head, wondering how violent this creature was. Even when trying to help cool him off, it held no murderous intent; did it really need to injure itself after just a few words?

The Fire Demon refused to believe it, instantly sprouting a brand new arm, black flames igniting around his nails, resolutely pressing down on his chest for another explosion.

The talisman light surged immensely, revealing that even without waiting for two days, the spirit fire had already undergone three demon transformations into demon talisman levels.

The spirit fire spiraled around as if alive; they cheered and danced around the Fire Demon, transforming into seductive forms or rugged figures, even taking beast shapes, mountain shapes, bell shapes, cauldron shapes, and tree shapes, changing into various forms, exuding strong demonic energy.

Li Hui widened his eyes, finding it hard to believe that this Fire Demon’s aura was so powerful.

“Ah!” The Fire Demon howled at the sky, his body trembling incessantly, suddenly swelling with dreadful power as divine flames roared and surged across his form. A deafening crash echoed in his ears, followed by a powerful gust bursting outward.

Li Hui’s gathered form dispersed significantly, becoming almost unrecognizable.

The heat vaporized momentarily and then quickly shrank, revealing fist-sized spirit fires rising into the air, beginning to merge from four into two, then from two into one at an unimaginable speed.

"How domineering! The jade token has amassed enough firepower to start its metamorphosis. If I hadn’t returned to the Heavenly Talisman Sect through the river of time to study, taking part in the creation of the Di Jiang Talisman Corpse, it would have been difficult to suppress this guy using the craftsmanship I had before," Li Hui felt confident. Deep down, he sensed the Heavenly Talisman Sect’s acknowledgment of him had reached an indescribable level; all that remained was practice and research.

The hundred thousand spirit fires merged recklessly, devouring the chaotic spirit fires, with only one hundred eighty-nine spirit fires breaking through the bottleneck, reaching the level of Jade Symbols. But this was just the beginning. The spirit fires continued to collide and fuse, rapidly growing. When their height reached nine inches, they finally stabilized, resulting in only nine fires.

Each of the nine spirit fires was extraordinary, standing nine inches tall, divided into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, and white— the pinnacle of Jade Symbols, equivalent to nine Jade Symbols forming into an array, buzzing lightly as they absorbed firepower.

Inside the Pengxuan Cave, it suddenly turned cold, as the released heat from the Fire Demon concentrated.

The Fire Demon realized the precariousness of his situation, but he had no time to react. His body crackled and shrank down to the size of a normal person, then further down to the height of a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy.

At this moment, the Fire Demon revealed his features, lightly coughing, "Ahem, ahem, that’s enough, friend. You don’t intend to drain me completely, do you?"

"What’s going on? You’re not a demon but a human?" Li Hui was astonished, looking at the white-haired, white-browed boy with fading flames. He quickly performed a hand seal to restrain the jade token, as he had intended to see if merging the nine spirit fires could instantly elevate him to the level of Celestial Talisman, which was no longer feasible.

"From the Heavenly Talisman Sect?" The white-browed youth patted his chest and even pulled out the jade token, tossing it casually to Li Hui, "Thank you for restraining the demon fire, young friend. I almost became completely befuddled."

"Greetings, senior." Li Hui hurriedly saluted.

"Hmm, who would have thought that two thousand years could pass in the blink of an eye? The world today is full of disasters, and the dark moon has unexpectedly emerged," the white-browed youth shook his head with a wry smile, "I’m Ji Xingyun, not a practitioner from the Wutu Continent; my sect is on the Binghuo Continent. Due to heavy injuries sustained during my tribulation and a refusal to resort to possession, I transformed into a demon. Demon life is long, and I still have a chance to ascend. However, reincarnation is not easy. I feared losing my mind and being imprisoned here, but it appears I still encountered troubles. Fortunately, young friend, you used this excess demon fire to refine talismans, indicating a connection between us."

"No need to be modest. I wandered in here by accident, hoping to find some rare treasures. Seeing the Fire Demon, I wanted to escape, thinking that a temper like this could lead to trouble, thus I did my utmost to collect the demon fire," Li Hui felt apprehensive, unable to grasp the methods of this practitioner from the Binghuo Continent. Reborn as a demon was unprecedented; had it not been for the other party casually retrieving and returning the jade token, he would have long since turned into the silver snake Legal form and escaped by the skin of his teeth.

"There’s no need to tread carefully. I do not have a habit of attacking younger generations," Ji Xingyun said with amusement, "Who would have thought you, at such a young age, would refine your Legal form to such an extent? Even with the aid of alchemy, that is truly impressive. However, one thing you must be cautious of: the Claws of Time absolutely must not be allowed to coalesce; otherwise, unimaginable disasters will arise."

"Claws of Time?" Li Hui looked toward the five zhang of soil nearby.

"Indeed, within time lurks great terror, where entities unwilling to face their demise may strike from the depths of time. Regardless of how advanced their cultivation, they have ways of achieving possession. Possession itself is not a bad thing, but such entities bear ancient calamities when they come, which can heavily damage our world. The very thing you used to bind me was the Claws of Time. Fortunately, they have already been dispersed by a high-level demon cultivator. Otherwise, the Fire Demon you faced would not have been me, and who knows what kind of oddities would have emerged!"

"Ah? So dangerous?" Li Hui stepped back in alarm.

"Hahaha, though it’s dangerous, it is also an opportunity. You helped me, and I shall help you; cultivators must assist each other!" Ji Xingyun stepped onto the ground, causing mist to rise. The time force, originally formless, began to take shape, not as threads but as fluffy wisps radiating light, occasionally inflating with bubbles that instilled fear.